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As many of you are probably aware, the PlayStation Network has been down around the world for about 6 days now and we’ve finally got enough information to give you guys the deal with what’s going on and when we’ll be able to get back online.

Amidst all the rumors, the story is that on April 20th, an external intrusion (someone hacking into the system) breached the network, specifically user profile information (PSN ID, Name, Address, Phone Number, Email) and Sony had to take the network down to minimize the damage of the attack.

While the hacker has not yet been identified, many people speculate it is the work of Anonymous, a collective group of hackers who recently have been spewing cyber-attack threats against Sony.

Since the attack happened, Sony has been working on a massive security upgrade to the network. You can read the full report below via the PlayStation Blog

As of right now, Sony estimates that we will be able to access the network again sometime this week, with some services (which were not specified) not to be back up for a full week. Because of this, it is very likely that the EU DLC and Japan DLC that was due to come out this week will be delayed until the network is back up and running.

As a final note, if any of you have credit cards linked to your PSN accounts, I suggest you check your billing history right away and make sure none of those hackers got your number. Sony said they didn’t see any instances of credit card information being taken, but one can never be too careful.

The Emperor’s costume (as shown in the article picture), is based on the “Emperor of Heaven” form he takes in the GBA and PSP versions of Final Fantasy II, within the “Souls of Rebirth” storyline. Onion Knight’s is based on Ingus, a character from the the DS version of Final Fantasy III.

These are scheduled to release on April 28th, along with the Final Fantasy II/Final Fantasy III music packs. According to Dissidia France, the music packs will contain the following:

You remember that strategy guide for Dissidia 012? You know, the one that got delayed three times? Well, it did finally release in the US and anyone wanting to trek through it, you can find it right here in this article.

Below is a link to a Zip folder containing scans I made of every page of the strategy guide. So, if anyone didn’t buy the guide, but needs help with something, have fun looking through the guide.

North America wanted downloadable content, and they got it. With last night’s PSN update came 3 pieces of downloadable content for the US version of Dissidia 012. They are all music packs, and are reasonably priced as well.

Released are music packs from Final Fantasy I, Final Fantasy IV, and Final Fantasy XIII. Each of the music packs cost $0.99, much cheaper than the DLC from Japan’s PSN store. File sizes vary, with 2.1 MB for the FFI pack, 2.9 MB for the FFIV Pack, and 10 MB for the FFXIII pack. It was also noted that the FFXIII pack contains the Japanese version of “Chocobo Cocoon”.

US players should go have some fun with these cheap music packs. Since the music packs cost $0.99 a piece, it is reasonable to say that will probably also be the pricing for the DLC costumes in the US. Along with these music packs, PSN users should also look for some of the other Square games that hit the PSP Store last night, such as Final Fantasy IV: Complete Collection and Threads of Fate.

I’ll be back with updates soon!
Trent – L2K

UPDATEIt appears that another FFXIII track is also in Japanese form, which is “Chasing Dreams”

We finally know when the Yuna and Vaan costumes are going to release in Japan, thanks to Famitsu and Chaotic Cosmos. We also know about the music packs that are going to come out, with tracks from Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy XII. Don’t worry, they’re all going to be released this month.

First of all, the Vaan costume is not going to release on the PlayStation Store in Japan. Instead, the issue of V-Jump that releases on April 21st will come with a code for the costume. Whether it will release at a later time is unknown.

Also on April 21st will be the release of Yuna’s Gunner costume (as shown off in the article picture) and the FFX/FFXII music packs, which will be on PSN for anyone to download. No magazine issue required. The costume and each of the music packs will cost 300 yen a piece. Below are the songs chosen from Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy XII.

We are in for some great DLC. Hopefully the Vaan costume won’t require a magazine product code in Europe and North America. Also, as a reminder to FFIV fans, Final Fantasy IV: Complete Collection releases tomorrow. Those who want that Cecil code should get ready to make that purchase. Just like The 3rd Birthday, the PSN version will not include the Cecil costume code.

Many people wanted Gunner Yuna in Dissidia 012 instead of Summoner Yuna. Everyone can be happy now, since Yuna’s DLC costume has been announced, thanks to Siliconera and Chaotic Cosmos. You can view it in the article picture or through the following link:

It’s just as people expected. Yuna’s downloadable costume will be none other than her standard Gunner costume from Final Fantasy X-2. Just like Vaan’s costume, there has been no word on pricing or release dates for this. I am look forward to this costume, so I hope Square hurries with the releases and localizations of these costumes.

Thanks to Chaotic Cosmos, we finally know what Vaan’s DLC costume is going to be. Much to our dismay, though, it’s not going to be the form of Reks, Vaan’s brother. Instead, take a look below to find out:

You know, the PSP has engaged in three different console wars now. The first two are against the Nintendo DS and, oddly enough, the Nintendo 3DS. The third, however, seems to be useless and ridiculous. The third war is between it and itself, more specifically the PSP vs the PSP Go. In simple terms, it’s a personification of the constant war between Physical Media and Digital Media.

Why is this relevant to Dissidia 012? Well, I recently downloaded the game off the PlayStation Network and when I think about digital distribution, one thing automatically comes to mind. The biggest positive of digital media, at least that is talked of in debates, is the fact that games are read by flash memory rather than physical discs, greatly increasing load times.

With computers, there is an incredible difference between reading data from a physical hard drive and from flash memory via USB Drives, Memory Sticks/Cards, and other things. It is generally accepted that a computer can read flash memory over 4 times as fast as it can read data from a physical hard drive.

Let’s say you could run Windows 7 from a physical hard drive on Computer 1, but use a flash storage device to run it on Computer 2. If it takes 3 minutes (180 seconds) total to boot Windows 7 on computer 1, it would take roughly 45 seconds to boot it on Computer 2. Flash is that much faster. How similar to this are PSP games?

What I aimed to find out is exactly how much faster the digital file is than the disc. So, what I did was load up Dissidia 012 in both formats and compared load times for 5 specific things. I chose 5 to make sure the end product was constant.

The disc was in a PSP 3000 and the PSN download was in a PSP Go, read from a Sandisk 16 GB Memory Stick Micro. Neither had the Data Install option, so I could avoid the data that is read from Flash Memory in that Install Data conflicting with the results.

So, the big question is this: Is the load time difference enough to be worth buying the game as a digital file, as opposed to a disc? Obviously there are other reasons to buy the digital file now, especially since we know all downloadable PSP, PS1, and Mini titles will work on the NGP (Next Generation Portable aka PSP2), but based on these results, is it worth it? Would someone want to trade in their disc for the digital file?

Conclusions are opinion based, but my answer is yes. Excluding starting the game up for the first time, the load times are over twice as fast with the PSN version of the game. That’s also without doing the Data Install, which would likely enhance some of those further. It’s not as efficient as fully-fledged PC Flash Memory, but it’s a huge difference.

Also, just for your information, if any of you download the game off PSN after getting DLC, don’t freak out when there’s no new file on your Memory Stick. The game adds onto the DLC file, just as other DLC does.

You know, if Square ever decides to not give the US or Europe some of their DLC costumes or music, then we don’t need to rage at them. Another loophole has been found with online content, just like we found a way to share Friend Cards and Quests without Ad Hoc Party.

Let’s say you have a US disc of Dissidia 012 and have downloaded the Zidane costume from the Japanese PSN. Obviously, the japanese costume will not work with your US game, right? Wrong.

It has recently been discovered on GameFAQS that you can, indeed use Japanese DLC on the US and Europe versions of the game. To show an example, here is a video that the person who discovered this uploaded, using Zidane’s DLC costume in the English version of the game.

First of all, you have to buy the content and download it onto your PSP from the Japan Store, which requires that you have a japanese account active on your PSP for the DLC to work.

This means you can’t play any games you downloaded from the US or EU stores until you re-activate those accounts (which would disable the Japan DLC). This also means that people who bought Dissidia 012 on the US PSN cannot do this.

After this, you need to back up the folders on your computer. If you plan on having both NA/EU and JP DLC, you’ll have to back them up for when you want to use them again.

Now, with your Japanese account active, throw your DLC file onto your PSP’s “GAME” folder and change the folder name to accomodate for your version of the game.

As long as you renamed it properly and the folder is in the right location, it should work. Again, I’m not planning on doing this I’m not gonna buy the DLC when there’s a good chance of it coming out here anyways), so I haven’t tested it.

As a last note, you should be aware that since DLC packs into one folder, you’ll have to rename your folder back to the Japan folder name if you plan on buying more and adding more to the files.

This is a nice exploit, and great insurance in case Square doesn’t release all of the DLC outside Japan, but I see it only useful for those who don’t buy games off the US/EU PSN. Those of us who have sizable digital libraries probably won’t want to have our entire library inaccessible without re-activating the account.

About

My name is Trent Berlinger, and a big fan of the Final Fantasy franchise. I’ve been following Dissidia ever since Square-Enix announced it back in Spring 2007, so I’ve decided to make a blog with updates for the game and the possibility of a sequel